Clint Bowyer will have a new Crew Chief for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, the team said on Monday.

Greg Zipadelli, who is the Competition Director for Stewart-Haas Racing, will serve as the Crew Chief of Clint Bowyer in the next race for the season.

The development comes as Bowyer’s current Crew Chief, Johnny Klausmeier, will be sitting out of Saturday’s race due to a suspension.

Klausmeier was suspended for one race after it was found that Bowyer’s car did not have two lug nuts safe and secure during the weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He was also fined $20,000 for the error, as per NASCAR’s rules.

Clint Bowyer will hope for a repeat of Zipadelli’s Xfinity Series heroics

It will be a doubleheader weekend at Michigan. Klausmeier will be able to return for Sunday’s Cup Series race at the Michigan International Speedway.

It is not the first time that Zipadelli will be filling in as the Crew Chief this season.

He had done the same for Chase Briscoe in four races in the Xfinity Series earlier this season. They won three of those four races.

Back then, Briscoe’s Crew Chief, Richard Boswell, the Car Chief of the team, and an engineer were all suspended for four races after the ballast fell out of Briscoe’s car.

Zipadelli has a rich record in NASCAR in the past. He won two titles with Tony Stewart back in 2002 and 2005.

Bowyer in contention for a playoff spot

Bowyer is currently placed on the 14th spot in the race to make the playoffs this season, with six races remaining.

He is 12th in the standings based on points, but two drivers outside the Top-16 have already sealed playoff spots with wins this season, and so Bowyer is 14th.

He leads William Byron, who currently holds the last playoff spot, by 28 points. Bowyer finished 18th in the previous race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR on NBC posted a tweet earlier about Zipadelli’s role, saying, “#NASCAR: @GZipadelli won 3 of 4 Xfinity races as an interim crew chief this season. He’ll look to lead @ClintBowyer to a win in Saturday’s Cup race at @MISpeedway in interim role.”

To this, Bowyer himself replied, saying, “He’s backed into a bunch of em. Maybe we can do it again!!!”

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SOURCE- NBC Sports, Clint Bowyer- Twitter, Bob Pockrass- Twitter